When the Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair — or C.R.O.W.N Act as most people know it — was first passed in California in 2019, it signaled to the nation that discriminating against Black students or employees with natural hairstyles like afros, braids, bantu knots, locs, and twists would no longer be legal in the world’s fourth-largest economy.
The legislation, which has since spread to a total of 24 states, means it’s against the law to force Black people to alter what grows out of our heads to be seen as smart or professional at work.
And natural kinks, coils, and curls can no longer violate school dress codes either.